Daisies and Kisses
by Pachamama9
Summary: Lily finds James consoling a first year in the common room, so, as Head Girl, she knows she has to help. James/Lily fluff. One-shot.


_A/N: Lily finds James consoling a first year in the common room. I don't usually write a lot of Jily. Not because I don't love them to death, but because I never knew how to write their relationship. Hopefully, this'll be a start to a lot of Jily fics in the future._

 _Disclaimer: No, I don't own Harry Potter._

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It was Lily, not James, who originally initiated their relationship in their seventh year, even though James had pined for her for years, while Lily had only recently discovered her liking for him. And as she was Head Girl and he was Head Boy, they spent a lot of time together.

It was ten o'clock on a Friday night, a couple weeks after the start of school, and she heard someone talking in the common room. Having known James for years, she figured it was him in the common room with his friends. Much to her surprise, however, she found him kneeling before a crying first year. As James was the most well-known boy in Gryffindor house, he was often a hub for lost souls, especially first years. Lily watched from the top of the stairs, comforting the girl. "Hey, it'll be okay," James promised. "You can owl your family every day if you want to." His voice was smooth and gentle, as though he could wash all her cares away with a few words.

"B-b-but they're not m-magical!" The tiny girl buried her face in her hands. "They d-don't know how! I w-want to go home!"

Already, Lily was racing down the steps to kneel beside James; automatically, he moved to make room for her, like he'd known she was there the whole time. "Hey, sweetheart, what's your name?" Lily asked gently.

"Daisy," the first year mumbled, lifting her face to look at her.

"And your parents are Muggles?"

The little girl nodded, sniffling.

"That's okay," Lily assured her. "My parents are Muggles, too."

The girl gaped. "They are? I thought I was the only one!"

As it was her seventh year at Hogwarts, Lily knew that Muggleborns often felt this way, isolated from their half-blood and pure-blood peers by a lack of magical knowledge and a gravitation towards silence. Lily shook her head, her red hair swishing. "No, there are dozens of Muggleborns in the school, Daisy. If you're having trouble adjusting to the Wizarding world, you can always ask one of them. Or me."

Daisy pushed her glasses up her nose, as James often did. "Did your parents send…owls?"

Lily laughed, and her cheeks warmed. She could feel James' eyes trained on her. She'd never heard him this quiet before. "No, they didn't understand that Hogwarts didn't have phones." The first year's face lit up at the use of a Muggle term. "But I sent instructions in my first letter for them to follow, and they got the hang of it pretty quickly. I'm sure your parents will, too."

"Can you…"

"Help you?" Lily smiled at her. "Of course. I'll take you to the owlery in the morning and show you how to send your letters, okay? You can write all your letters tonight, and we'll send them tomorrow."

"B-but I don't have an owl!"

James interjected, glancing once at Lily for implicit permission to talk. "I'm gonna let you borrow my owl, how about that?" James gave her that cute half-smile, showing Lily one prominent dimple in his right cheek. "She's pretty smart. If your parents write any letters back, my owl will know to pick them up and bring them back here."

A smile crept onto Daisy's face. "Really?"

Lily and James spoke at the same time: "Really."

After they sent Daisy to bed and James announced he'd head back to his dorm, Lily grabbed his arm. "Wait," she said.

James, surprised that she had willingly touched him, spun around. "Is something wrong?" he asked her.

She felt surprisingly at ease talking to him, even though she was about to rock the entire friendship they'd built since seventh year had started. Before that, she'd been annoyed by his mere presence, but something had changed about him. Lily knew she'd told him once that she would never date him unless he became a good person, but that was a joke. Somehow, he had morphed into this person before her. He was more patient now. More kind. His immaturity had faded; he now helped first years like Daisy find their way instead of picking on them. "No, I just…" He turned around completely, watching her expectantly with those beautiful blue eyes. "You did really well with her. With Daisy, I mean. You really helped her."

James shrugged. "A lot of first years get homesick. I remember what that was like." He shuffled his feet. "The distance to your home feels like worlds away."

"No, I…" Why couldn't she finish her sentences? "What I mean… You've changed, James. You're different than last year." Prior to this year, he'd been barely endurable in her presence, for he treated everyone around him like objects in a came that he always had to win. He'd been a bully, mistreating everyone who wants in his exclusive band of followers, and he had infuriated her.

James gave her a playful smirk, tapping the Head Boy badge on his chest. "Well, Dumbledore didn't make me Head Boy for nothing."

Lily laughed.

James felt a ticklish warmth spread through him at the sound, and he cleared his throat to cover up how nervous he was. Lily had never treated him so… civilly until this moment. He'd been hopelessly in love with her since he'd gotten to Hogwarts, but she'd always expressed explicit disdain towards him. Now, however—

"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?" Lily blurted out, unable to hold back any longer.

Having burst free of his whirlwind of thoughts, James' face broke into an enormous grin. "Are you serious? You want to go with me?"

She blushed. "I mean, if you want to."

James couldn't help but be skeptical. "But you… You hate me." A thought struck him. "Did Remus put you up to this or something? Because if he—"

"No, no, of course not," Lily assured him. "This is me. Just me."

His suspicions faded as he noticed how Lily' anxiety seemed to reflect his; she shuffled her feet as she spoke, her face pink. "You really… You really wanna go out with me?" He was almost giddy with excitement.

She slapped his arm playfully. "Don't make me regret this, Potter."

He chuckled and shook his head. "I wouldn't dare. Your friends would have my head on a silver platter." Lily knew that was definitely true, as she held as fierce a friendship with her dormitory as James shared with the Marauders. The two of them stayed up late in the common room that night, discussing their future, their friends, and themselves. Lily didn't think she'd ever laughed so hard in her whole life. She knew, in that moment, that James didn't solely like her for superficial reasons, for the smile that lit up his entire face rivaled the one that he shared with his friends. It was one of utter bliss.

It had to be three in the morning when they finally went to their dormitories, and they walked to the bottom of the stairs, where the stairs to the girls' and boys' dormitories parted. "Good night, Lily," he said, and he gave her a kiss on the cheek. A kiss on the cheek. James Potter kissed her on the cheek. It was affectionate yet sensual; it wasn't suggestive, but it was close to her mouth, and the ghost of his mouth seemed to linger on that spot even after he was gone.

Lily felt her face go bright red and cursed her pale skin. "Good night, James."

It was only when she was deep under the covers that she realized she'd called him James, not Potter, and he'd called her Lily, not Evans.

Merlin, why was love so bloody strange?

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 _A/N: Thanks for reading! Please favorite, follow, and review!_

 _Challenges used:_

 _Hogwarts - Religious Education: Hanukkah - Task #2 - Write about someone or something that's helpful._

 _The Golden Snitch - Through The Universe - #145 Radiant - (feeling) utter bliss_

 _The Golden Snitch - Ollivander's Wand Shop - Viktor Krum - Hornbeam - Write about an important moment for your OTP._

 _If You Dare Challenge - #882 (The distance to your home)_

 _Are You Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge - #114 (character) Lily Potter_

 _Character Diversity Boot Camp - #8 (endurable), Lily Evans_

 _Your Favorite House Boot Camp - #26 (habitual), Gryffindor_

 _365 Prompts - #118 (era) Marauder_

 _Fanfiction Writing Month: December [1282]_

 _Writing Club - Disney Challenge - Songs - #1 (Beauty and the Beast) - Write about someone changing for a relationship._

 _Writing Club - Showtime - #19 - I'll Cover You - (genre) romance_

 _December Fortnightly - #7 (genre) romance_


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